Should Malaysians support smoking in public be banned?

Assalamualaikum,

Hi!

Recently the Malaysia Government decided to ban smoking in public places starting 2019.

Some disagree but many agree.

For me,

I totally agree with this.

People who smoke in public portray a bad example. Children are easily influenced in their growing stages. They imitate the people around them because they cannot differentiate between right and wrong. Therefore they perceive the actions they see around them as the way things should be. Besides that, teenagers who see people smoke in public take it as precedent to start smoking as well. 

There is a saying that goes “monkey see monkey do,” which tells us that people imitate the actions of others as they see it in their daily lives. Teenagers happen to think that smoking makes a person “cool.” When they see adults doing it on the streets it strengthens their belief in the “coolness” of smoking. Some teenagers think that smoking marks their transition into adulthood and maturity. Hence, more teenagers start smoking due to the influence of seeing other people smoke in public places.

I myself have been in many situations where I saw the father decided to smoke while his children was eating next to him!

Can you imagine how dangerous it was to the children?

Some may argue that by preventing smokers from smoking in public, it infringes upon their rights. It is true that smokers have rights and these rights should not be infringed upon. However, a non-smoker’s right to breathe clean air should be taken into consideration as well. When people smoke in public areas the toxic fumes travel through the air and into the lungs of others.

Nature wise,

The key ingredient in the manufacture of cigarettes is tobacco and the reality is that most of it is planted in rainforests areas. Accordingly, it has contributed to major deforestation in the areas where it is planted. Areas where tobacco planting began on small lands are now extensively covering large fields and some of such places were covered by very dense forest.

The entire process of cultivating, curing, and transporting tobacco needs the use of large amount of chemical and other toxic materials. At the same time, the production process generates huge amounts of wastes such as harmful chemical pesticides and fertilizers. One of the habitually used substances in the production process is known as Aldicarb. It’s highly toxic to humans, plants and animals and can seep into waterways and intoxicate the soil for several years.

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If I am able to list all the effects of smoking to our environment and to our health,

I can never finish it in this posting!

Whatever the decisions will be,

I hope that it is for the better of our nation.

Till then,

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